Day Two In Sydney, Walk Walk Walk

Only one month until Christmas, oh my and I'll get back to that on a later post. Well, enough of that, it was time for day two in Sydney. We didn't mess around in the morning and got to some serious eating right away. A little French cafe place with a sign proclaiming "Big Breakfast". With brekkie, you don't want to mess around, so I ordered it was a short black coffee. Aussie bacon is always a little different, and it's different in a good way. Brekkie was consumed as we watched the traffic pass on Goldburn Street. Fast traffic does seem to make you eat faster, I noticed.

With our tummies full, we headed out towards some more sights. First, we walked through Hyde Park and checked out the Anzac Memorial (which honors all of the Australian troops that died in service). There also was a monument to honor the Irish who suffered through the famine, and no it wasn't shaped like a pint of Guinness. We passed by the hospital which had banners announcing it was eye donation week, but I am sure glad I kept mine, because we soon after arrived at St. Mary's Cathedral, which is impressive to say the least.

Next up was the Royal Botanic Gardens

Yep, smell those roses, but watch you head for swooping bats!

Yes, those were some huge bats up in the trees. The gardens featured plenty of plants, trees, bats, birds and Japanese tourists taking pictures of each other at Mrs. Macquaries Point.

The waving man, was not a Japanese tourist, but rather an Australian photographer. I chatted him up about the Opera House and the copyright on photos of it. He asked where we were from and mentioned Oregon. He said he had lived in Portland for a short while. Small world.

Seriously almost every place in the garden offered views of two of Sydney's gems: the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. Of course the view of the city itself, wasn't bad either.

We walked back towards the Opera House and this time we were able to walk up the stairs in front. The previous day crews were taking down a concert stage, so the stairs were blocked. I certainly didn't want my stair climbing for the day being denied in any way possible. After exploring the Opera House from more exterior angles than I had on my previous visit, we headed out. Of course, along the walk I couldn't resist joining in on the Japanese tourist photo shoots.

Next up was the Museum of Contemporary Art. Hard not to dig stuff like beheaded mannequins in erotic poses. I did wonder as there were school children present how the teachers were discussing those exhibits. After loading up on culture, it was time to load up on step climbing and walking once again, so we headed out on the Harbour Bridge. This probably offered the best views of the Opera House yet. You certainly can never have enough photos of it either, says I.

We didn't walk the entire bridge, or do the bridge climb, but there were plenty of other people doing those crazy things. Well, the Harbour Bridge is something worth experiencing at least once in your life. Yes, it's that good.

Reversing the bridge trek, we headed into The Rocks area for some lunch at a German place known as The Lowenbrau Keller. Beer & pretzels and a hamburger and fires. It didn't get any mixed up better than that. Oh, did I mention my beer had Coke mixed in as well? Yep. After filling up once again, we took another ferry ride and then walked back to our place to rest. In retrospect, my last ferry ride in Sydney most likely. Good stuff.

The evening featured dinner adventure part two. We headed out once again for some Chinese food (or some variant). We went back to the place I had researched the night before. Of course it was busy, but I signed the list and took a number. My dad grew impatient and I agreed that the waiting queue wasn't moving fast enough, so we headed out again. Thankfully, I had a backup place in mind. We did have to wait, but I am glad our patience held up.

The place of choice was the Spicy Sichuan Restaurant. It was certainly authentic, and I knew this place was going to be great (and spicy) because on every table was a box of tissues! Yes, tissues. You know that's a sign of damn good spiciness. Bring it!

After a mighty tasty dinner, some form of ice-cream was desired. My dad wanted to see if McDonalds had shakes and I was mostly curious to see the menu. No shakes, but my fears were confirmed, even though they use the metric system here, they sell a Quarter Pounder with Cheese. Oh, the hypocrisy! C'mon people, ROYAL WITH CHEESE. It's not that hard.

Thankfully, across the street was a place called Cold Rock (think Cold Stone Creamery). However, here you can get Tim Tams mixed into your ice-cream! Oh baby, that's a treat. Certainly a good way to end the day, Tim Tam-alicious.

Ms. O said: